


Lights, Camera... Love?

by shewandered_shewrote



Series: Life & Times of Chris Evans/Ella Francis [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Chris Evans - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Appearences, Best Friends, Boston, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Italy, LA, London, M/M, NYC, Oblivious OFC, Paris - Freeform, Romance, Sexual Content, Slow Build, Slow Burn, award shows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 05:25:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7155491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewandered_shewrote/pseuds/shewandered_shewrote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Chris and Ella met on set first, she didn't expect him to become such a huge part of her life. Today, he stands as one of her closest friends. Chris is everything she never knew she wanted, and Ella is everything he ever wanted, but all is not as simple as it seems. When they start to fall for each other, they not only mess up their own lives, but they mess up the lives of everyone around them. </p>
<p>So what happens when their lives - so complicated and publicly scrutinized - become intricately entwined? Will they find their perfect ending? Or will they reach the rock bottom on this journey? Read on to find out what goes on behind the curtain in the lives of these two famed celebrities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! My first full length fanfiction. I've put in a lot of work on this one so I hope you like it :)  
> If possible, please take a few minutes to leave a review? I'm incredibly nervous and your comments always make me so much more happy!!!  
> Enjoy!

(May 2010)

“Ella! C’mon! We’re going to be late! You know the rules, we need to be there an hour before the exam starts! C’mon!” a tremulous voice sounded. 

“I know! I know! Just a minute” yelled back Ella as she finished tying her hair up in a neat ponytail. It’s days like these that she regrets her decision to go finish college. Being 20, studying at a university as prestigious as Cambridge and filming a new movie simultaneously equals to level 7 hell. She usually has her schedules neatly planned so nothing overlaps, but this year, everything is going downhill. Her schedules have overlapped, she’s broken her ankle and wrist once each already this year, has no idea what she’s doing in dance class and what on earth was the amygdala again? She was definitely going to fail today’s Psychology theory paper. And to make matters worse, she had to go meet up with her new cast members today for introductions and what not. Oh hell.

“Finally! the queen has arrived. Can we go now or do you await your chariot?” Lily questioned, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“I’m here. Stop being so sarcastic, we’ll make it in time. Now, tell me what the heck was the amygdala again? It’s in the brain, is it not?…”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone who’s ever written an exam knows how amazing it feels when you’ve finished them and walk out the examination hall for the last time. It’s this euphoric feeling; whether you’ve done well or not, you’ve managed to reach the end of this tedious path and hence: Joy!. That is how Ella felt at the moment as she sauntered around her university campus. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes as she turned around to walk back to her car and -

“Fuck!”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Sir,” exclaimed Ella as she bumped into some guy behind her and made him spill his coffee all over himself.

“Hey, I’m really sorry ok? I didn’t mean to. I - is there anything I can do? I -”

“No, no. Its fine really. Happens. Ya okay?” Huh. American. It wasn’t highly uncommon to come across Americans here but still, it wasn’t as common either. She looked up at him and realized he looked slightly familiar. If only his cap wasn’t shielding his face like that then she might be able to see him better. He looked vaguely like -

“Hello? You ok?” He questioned and pulled Ella out of her reverie. She realized she’d been so into her thoughts that she hadn’t responded to him first.

“Yes. I’m good. It’s you, I’m so sor-”

“Please, its ok. I told ya. Its fine.” the man seemed to hesitate for a moment, contemplating what to say, before he spoke up again, asking her “um, I - you’re Ella Francis, if I’m not wrong, right?”

“The very same. And you are?”

The man in question lifted his cap off his head and Ella realized, with mild shock, who this guy was. She didn’t know him personally but she also didn’t live underneath a rock that she wouldn’t know who he was. Although, he was probably one of the last people she thought of meeting at her university. He cleared his throat before saying:

“I’m -”

“Chris Pine.”

He let out a laugh, eyes filling up with mirth.

“No I’m sadly not Pine. Loved to have been him but, no. I’m -”

“Fantastic Four. No. Wait. Sorry. What’s his name? The fire-y guy?”

“Johnny Storm? Yeah I’m him alright.”

“Right. Hi”

“Hi”

“What’re you doing here? i mean, its not very common for movie stars to be here”

“You’re here” he sassed.

Ella had to force herself to stop from rolling her eyeballs into the furthest spot of her socket. Instead, she politely smiled and replied: “I study here. That’s why I’m here. You?”

“You don’t know why I’m here Ms. Francis?”

“I’m sure it was breaking news on BBC today morning, but I missed the news today, so no. I have no idea why you might be here today.”

“Too bad. Oh well, you’ll find out.” he smirked, before continuing, “I was here to just visit this place. Kinda doing touristy stuff ya know. Now, since you’ve kindly spilled my coffee and I have no idea where I’m going, maybe let’s go for a coffee, or brunch seeing the time? There seemed to be this nice cafe just down the street.”

“Julians’? Yeah that place is good.” Ella replied. A million thoughts running through her head, mainly ways to decline his offer nicely. What kind of girl goes on a date with a guy she’s only known for 4 minutes. And moreover, what kind of guy asks a girl out when he’s just met her? She’s honestly had enough of guys and dates and… and just guys really. So she looks into his eyes and - god are they blue! They’re so deep and blue that she swore she lost herself in them for a moment or two. Its not her fault if the first thing she notices about people are their eyes; and he’s got amazing eyes - “I’m sorry, I have some prior commitments for today. I need to get going. Maybe some other time.”

She felt kind of bad for letting him down but she wasn’t even lying right? She did have to attend that dinner tonight with god knows who so…

“Oh, that’s ok. I have a feeling it’s going to be sooner than later” he winked at her.

“You seem awfully confident about that”

“Oh because I am. See you around Ella Francis” He quipped back, dragging out her name.

“See you around, Chris Evans.” she smiled back.

If only Ella knew how soon she’d be seeing him.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ella, c’mon sweetie, you’re getting late. Everyone’s going to be there at 6:00 pm sharp, we need to move. Now.” Ella’s assistant reminded her.   
“Yes I know. Can I skip? Like please? I mean, we’ll meet on set so…” 

“So you need to know who they are and blah blah. I know you’re tired but this is necessary.”

“Tired? Understatement of the year.” mumbled Ella as she zipped up her blue dress. She stood back and looked herself over in the mirror. The dress reached just above her knees and flared slightly from waist-down. Her hair was sleek and held half up and half down by a clip. She looked cute, presentable and her makeup was so on point that you could barely see the dark circles beneath her eyes that Ella could swear were as deep and dark as the marinas trench. Still. No one needs to know that tonight, do they? So she grabbed her clutch, somewhat exhaustedly, and made her way outside to her car. 

It’s strange when you have to go meet people you know nothing of. Your mind races of all the possibilities and topics of conversation that could come up. You think about what they may look like or what impression you might have on them. It is even stranger when you walk in to your decided meeting place and realize that you’re the last one to arrive, and everyones eyes land upon you. Shit! Ella scolded herself for being late as she walked gracefully to the dinner table despite being a nervous wreck inside as all her future co-stars glued their eyes to her.  
“Hello! So glad you made it tonight. Busy lady you are, c’mere. Let me introduce you to everyone…” The director of the movie stood up to greet Ella. He went about introducing everyone but Ella could barely concentrate due to this one guy who smirked up at her from behind his glass of wine. 

“And this, this is Chris Evans. He’s playing Luke, protagonist along with you. Your, hopefully, new friend. You guys will be working a lot together so best get to know each other right?” finished the director, as he took his seat and motioned for Ella to sit down - right next to Evans. As she settled in her spot, everyone went back to discussing whatever they’d been talking about about, and Evans leaned over to whisper,

“See? Told you I’d be seeing you sooner than later.”

“Wow, didn’t know you had powers of being a seer. Thought the most you could do was roast a chicken with your fire-power.” His musical laugh reached her ears as the waiter came around to serve their appetizer, making Ella realize she was absolutely famished.

“What do you know Francis, I have a way of getting what I want.”

She met his intense gaze as fiercely as she could; her mouth turned up to match the smirk on his face as she spoke again, challenging him:

“We’ll see Evans. We’ll see.”


	2. Code Name "Group Hug"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its been a while since their first movie, now Chris and Ella's paths have crossed yet again. With one of them holding out a hand for the other, will the other person accept it? Or is this journey going to be much more difficult than either one thought?

To say that the scale of this movie was huge would itself be a huge understatement. Closing down a whole street of New York, that too during broad daylight, proved just how vast the scale of this entire project was. Not that Ella hadn’t been part of such a massive project before because God knows she had, but nonetheless, it still did surprise her whenever she looked at these details. Somehow, she was kinda really excited to see how today would play itself: the last day of filming The Avengers. The whole 3 months had gone by shockingly fast and in the blink of an eye, here she was: at the end. She looked at herself in the mirror, running her hands down her black leather suit, feeling the smooth yet tough material under her fingertips. Her hair had been colored to a shocking red and Ella desperately missed her brunette hair that she so very often claimed was ‘extremely ordinary’. After all, playing Black Widow meant she would have to make some changes to her appearance right? 

She wondered if she was fretting so much because she was acting on this project for the last time, an actual action movie, or because she had to say goodbye to a cast that she’d never shared screen-space with ever before yet become exceptionally well acquainted with. All this seemed more fun than work should seem to be, and she new she’d miss everyone once she went back to London. All except Evans. They were friends, believe it or not, after first meeting on set back in 2010. And it was his phone call that had led Ella into accepting this role. Funny how things worked out. Downy convinced Evans, who convinced Ella. And she knew that they’d keep in touch so she didn’t need to worry about losing him for a while. 

So here she was, in her dressing room, waiting for her assistant to call her on set. She mentally congratulated Whedon on selecting this particular scene for the last day: a full out action sequence with all the Avengers and Loki together. Perhaps it was his trick for the cast to get together one last time. He had some nerve then because seeing how difficult it was to get everyone serious and working, well, Ella could only hope for the best. A knock sounded on her dressing room door and pulled Ella out of her thoughts. She made her way and pulled open the door to reveal -

“Morning! How is my fair Lady Giselle today?” 

Evans. He was dressed in his costume as well. His was a sharper blue with red and white stripes around his midriff. There was a silver star on his chest and a.. cap… of some sort hung over his shoulder. In all honesty, it was slightly ridiculous when compared to his first Captain America costume. Once she got over her the shock of seeing his suit again as they hadn’t filmed together for nearly a month now, she realized he was holding a tray of coffee and a brown paper bag.

“Well Evans, good morning to you too. I see you’re all bright and shiny today.” Ella teased him. She knew that the costume was, if anything, bothering him immensely. 

“Ha ha ha. That’s hilarious.” Evans smirked back, continuing, “If you want this coffee and croissant that I gotcha, be nice ok?”

“Oh, very well Captain. Do honor me by gracing me with your presence in my dressing room…” Ella held her hands out, inviting him in.

They took their spots on her couch, and Evans handed her a cup of coffee and her croissant. She peeked inside to find an almond croissant - her favorite. Beside her, Evans had already started on his croissant, and took a bite out of it only to let out an absolutely whorish moan. 

“Ooh, Evans. Calm down, one outside would think something wrong is happening in here judging by the sounds you are making”

He raised his eyebrows and leaned forward to say “Well, why does it have to be wrong huh?”. Ella rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee before warning him again - for the 3302nd time - to not flirt with her, knowing very well that this was not very likely to stop him.

“Ugh, Francis! You’re no fun nowadays. What’s up with you for the past few months?”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you’ve been very… distant. Everything ok?”

“Everything is fine Evans. Unlike you, I have a university to attend and hence I am rather busy. My term ended last week, I’m free now so expect to hear from me more ok.” Ella smiled.

Her companion smiled back and gestured for her to finish their impromptu second breakfast, knowing that they had just a few minutes before filming commenced. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And cut!” yelled Joss, “Well done guys, great day. And that’s a wrap! Well done everyone. Well done! Thank you to…”

In retrospect, the day had gone by really well. Save the two scratches and a bruise that Ella received as memorabilia of the last day, over all the day had been hugely successful and fun. Everyone on set seemed really nice and respectful. That was the trick of working with ensemble cast: be accommodating. So with everyone having sudden energy now that Whedon had called it a day, the cast decided to go grab dinner together. After an hour of discussions as to where they would go, everyone agreed on Renner’s suggestion of a steakhouse just a few minutes away.

As everyone started towards their respective dressing rooms, Evans fell into step with Ella, his hands in his pockets, mouth opening and closing a few times making him look like an overgrown fish gaping. Before she could say anything however, he bet her to it.

“Listen, Ella, hey um, I was wondering what… Who’re you going with to the diner? If, you want, we could share a ride. What say?”

“Um, Chris -” Ella started, but he cut her off.

“Don’t say no. It’s just a ride, I find it boring to be all by myself so I thought maybe we could…” he trailed off, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. His blue eyes were trained on her brown ones, hoping for a green signal. He looked so adorable standing there in his Captain America outfit with his hair disheveled and carrying a nervous expression on his face that Ella couldn’t bring herself to decline his offer, no matter how wrong she thought this was. 

“Fine Evans. Meet in the parking lot in… 30 minutes sharp ok?”

“You’re on Francis.” 

It was just this once. One car ride. Nothing wrong with that, right? Seeing his relieved smile and the newfound spring in his step as he walked towards his room, made Ella’s heart sore. He turned around once and winked at her, a wide smile displaying all his perfect teeth plastered upon his face, before continuing to walk to his dressing room.   
image

Ella found herself smiling brightly and staring after him and only looked away a few moments later when the phone in her hand chimed. She clicked it on to read the new text message before her smile faltered a bit. Biting her lip, she typed a quick response before going ahead to freshen up and change her clothes.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The drive to the restaurant was pretty uneventful; Chris simply enjoyed the few minutes of peace he got from all the hassle of the set. He looked sideways to see Ella staring out her window, her thoughts far away. Chris took the opportunity to admire her. She had a straight but small nose, slightly full lips, and a dimple in her cheeks whenever she smiled. She’d look at people walking by, couples and children, workers and tourists, advertisements and displays. A smile graced her face and stayed put. She’d changed into a dark blue dress that had tiny flowers on it, reaching the middle of her thighs. Her hair was pushed carelessly to one side and her side-fringe grazed her cheek as she adjusted her glasses. It’s moments like these that he is able to appreciate her to the fullest. Moments, when she isn’t a big movie star; moments where she is simply a girl in her early twenties, trying to figure out her life. Its times like these that her simplicity and desire for simple things in life are shown to him. In these fleeting moments, Chris feels their connection. He senses how incredible they would be together, of how bright their future might be. But then the moment passes and Ella moves on, taking an alternative route to the one that he offers. He pretends her rejection doesn’t affect him, doesn’t make him spend hours on end thinking about her and what he’s doing wrong. He doesn’t even know why he still tries to win her affection at this point; she’s clearly always going to friend-zone him.   
But he still tries. And gets rejected every now and then. And puts up a comical facade, masking his wistfulness by humor. Right now, she looks so gorgeous, so serene that he wants to ask her out on a date. There may be a chance she’d agree seeing as they’d been on great terms the whole day. But he refrained, dreading the answer he knew would come. Chris let out a soft sigh and turned away to look outside his window. His thoughts buzzed around his head and he desperately wished for them to stop.

“Chris? Hey, you alright?” Ella softly questioning broke him out of his reverie. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Good. Just tired ya know”

“I know, me too. But the restaurant’s here, you ready to go?” her face held an expression that might’ve been worry, but it was too dark to tell. Before the moment got serious though, she broke it by smirking and asking him,

“Or do you want to stay here and have a nice candle light dinner with…” She looked around trying to find the drivers name, “Joseph?”

The driver in question snorted before covering it up by coughing loudly. Chris too let out a laugh and said “Its too late for all this sass Francis. Let’s get our asses inside ok?”

“Suit yourself buddy.”

As they made their way inside, the two actors caught up with Downy and his wife, making light conversation as they tried to find the rest of the cast. Once finding everyone, saying hellos again and taking their seats, the group fell into silence as everyone looked over their menus trying to decide dinner. Once or twice, while turning a page or adjusting himself better in his seat, Chris’ hand brushed Ella’s. And while his heart didn’t do summersaults, because God knows it always did speed up whenever she was near, Ella’s heart did. She felt her breath stop for a second, her heart rate increasing, eyes trying to find his. She didn’t know why all of a sudden she was having these reactions lately. None of it made sense. Perhaps all this was just because he was insanely handsome, attractive. Yes, that’s probably it, she thought to herself.

Finally deciding on a medium-well done steak with pepper sauce and steamed vegetables along with a glass of red wine, Ella settled back in her chair and allowed Hemsworth to engage her in a discussion about some new movie that came out last week. When Hiddleston joined in their conversation as well, she lost the conversations of others and so nearly chocked on her wine when she heard Renner asking her if she was seeing someone.

“Excuse me?” she coughed out.

“I said, we here were talking about how nearly all of us are tied down except Evans and Tom, but we weren’t sure about you. So I asked if you’ve… you know… got someone special? Hmm?” Renner explained in a slow, clear voice as though he were talking to a child. A thousand thoughts ran through Ella’s mind, thinking of ways to answer him. She was also vaguely aware of the fact that everyones eyes were fixated upon her. Perhaps it was the fact that she grew up in the household of an actor - her father was a pretty big actor after all - or that she herself had been acting since the age of 9, regardless, if there was one thing Ella prided herself in immensely it was her acute ability to mask her emotions. And hence, she skillfully prevented the shock and awkwardness she felt from showing on her face as she looked Renner in the eye and said:

“I run around with 5 superhero worthy men, you think any other guy will stick around? I don’t think so.” Ella drawled in her smooth, posh accent.

“Plus, with Hemsworth around, I don’t think anyone else even measures up. Right?” Susan winked at Hemsworth making her husband groan.

“Not you too Susan,” 

“See? She gets me?” Ella raised her glass in mock toast to both Susan and Hemsworth as everyone else on the table snorted and shook their heads at ongoing antics. Before either Downy or Renner could make any further comments, however, the waiters arrived with their dinner and all thought of conversations flew out the window as everyone hungrily dug into their food and relished how good everything was. Bless Jeremey Lee Renner for suggesting this place. 

It was a mark of how tired and starving everyone was because no one really spoke till the end of the meal, which was stranger than seeing a UFO. They sat there for a while before everyone decided it was time to head home. Exchanging goodbye hugs and promises to stay in touch which, sadly, everyone knew wasn’t hugely likely since everyone was bound to get busy with their lives sooner than later. Still, they liked thinking they could be different. And with that everyone parted ways knowing that the next time they’d all be working together was probably 2-3 years later when they filmed for Avengers 2. Renner and Evans finally managed pushing everyone into one final group hug. Ever since they’d found out that the working-title of this movie was “Group Hug”, they’d go about choosing random moments to give everyone group hugs. The worst being at the end of shootings, when one and all were sweaty, smelly and just not very huggable. And with that, the Avengers finally went their separate ways.

Reaching their car, Evans opened the door for Ella and waved a hand, motioning for her to sit inside. She was too drained to say anything, hence she merely smiled up at him through her lashes. Once settled back, the car roared to life as the driver pulled out of the parking lot and started towards their hotel. It was quite inside the car, the only noise coming from the sound of tires dragging along the gravel; the soft whispers of the wind; the tinkling of the first pearls of rain hitting the car roof and windows. Its all so peaceful and calm and cozy, that Ella lazily placed her head on Evans’ shoulder, closing her eyes. She feels so lightheaded and exhausted that she’s sure the only thing keeping her conscious is Evans’ breathing. Taking a deep breathe in, she’s vaguely aware of the scent of his cologne and soap and something so him. He just smelled so clean and fresh that it was overpowering her senses in the best possible way.  
That is when he decided to ask her a question that, at the time, she didn’t know she’d be hearing quite a few times in the future.

“Do you think you’ll ever want to give us a shot?” Chris asked her in his deep, husky yet soft voice. He sounded so… so honest. It didn’t seem like he was attempting a stupid dare set up by one of the other guys or that he was humoring her. Oh no. He sounds absolutely honest. And she knows she doesn’t have an honest enough answer for him. She also knows that whatever happens, she wouldn’t want to hurt him, he is her friend after all. A really good friend. But she didn’t know if they could be anything more than that. And truthfully, she didn’t want to think about it yet. So when he nudged her a bit and asked Ella “You with me?”, she ignored him. Keeping her eyes closed, she pretended to sleep as his question seemingly ingrained itself in her mind; his voice repeating itself in her brain as though it were on a loop.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Oh fuck.” Ella moaned as she slipped her heels off an sat on the edge of her bed in the hotel room. Softly massaging her feet, she looked out at the New York city lights and admired how gorgeous it all looked. The room was dark, the city lights being the only source of light. Ella didn’t even bother changing out of her dress as she climbed into her bed and pulled the blanket over herself. Turning on her side, her gaze fell upon the tiny Captain America stuffed toy seated beside her lamp. She smiled at it lazily, thinking back to when Evans brought it for her saying she needed some superhero to look after her at all times. She’d rolled her eyes at that but secretly she found the gesture cute and hence here sat mini-fake-cap on her bedside table.   
She’d nearly drifted off to sleep when her phone chimed loudly, indicating a new text. She reached around blindly, trying to get her hands on her phone. Once she found it, the screen light flooded her face as she opened the text message to read it:

*Goodnight beautiful. I miss you already. Hope to see you again soon :) -C*

The text brought a small smile to Ella’s face as she set her phone down and turned to her other side. A smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Here's where everything begins :)  
> Hope you liked this chapter, hang on till the next one.
> 
> Till then, if you may, please leave your comments below
> 
> Have a nice day/night/evening/morning/weekend/weekday everyone :D

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me your thoughts; I'm always open to positive criticism :)  
> So, COMMENT away!!!!


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